


Where The Earth Sleeps

by follow_the_white_rAbbit_777



Category: ATEEZ (Band), K-pop
Genre: Art Student Kim Hongjoong, Fantasy, First Love, Geomancy, History, Legends, M/M, Magic, University AU, energy, relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:54:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26381461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/follow_the_white_rAbbit_777/pseuds/follow_the_white_rAbbit_777
Summary: Kim Hongjoong leads an ordinary life as an ordinary student at an ordinary university - that is, until he stumbles across an unbelievable secret whilst researching for an art assignment. What starts out as normal research quickly spirals into a race against time when ancient magic and human greed begin to threaten not just his reputation but also everything he holds dear.
Relationships: Choi San/Jeong Yunho, Jung Wooyoung/Kang Yeosang, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 10
Kudos: 16





	Where The Earth Sleeps

**Author's Note:**

> Hello guys! It's been a while! This story has been sitting around in my docs for quite a while and I've decided it's time for it to emerge from depths of my laptop. I will be updating the tags as I go, so as to not spoil too much of the story in advance!

Hongjoong was seconds away from having a complete mental breakdown. He had been staring at the screen of his laptop for the past three hours, and he still had no idea what he wanted his project to be about. He let out a heavy sigh, one of many over the past few hours, and got up to pour himself yet another cup of coffee. As he passed through his room his room mate Yeosang looked up. 

“You good?” 

Hongjoong made a noise halfway between a dying cat and a zombie. Yeosang nodded to himself.

“I figured. So… how is that project of yours going?”

If Hongjoong hadn’t known just how much of a little shit his roomie could be he might have actually fallen for the false concern dripping off of him. 

“Do not. Talk. About. It.”

Yeosang raised an eyebrow at him. “And… if I do?”

“Then I might come to the conclusion that one of your little airplanes looks like just the thing I want to destroy in a fit of frustration-induced rage.”

Yeosang gasped in shock.

“You wouldn’t dare to!”

“And… if I do?” Hongjoong threw Yeosang’s words right back at him. His room mate did not look very concerned and that, in turn, was something Hongjoong found to be very concerning.

“Then I might have to invite Wooyoung over and we will proceed to show you just how disgustingly in love we are.” He grinned triumphantly.

“Have mercy on me, will you? I promise I won’t destroy your drones. I know just how much you adore them.”

“So you DO just pretend not to know!” Yeosang fake-seethed. 

Hongjoong let out a short laugh. “It’s not my fault you act like you fell for it that one time.”

It wasn’t that Hongjoong had anything against Yeosang and Wooyoung dating. If he had, he would have made a terrible friend. No, it was just that the both of them were already a handful on their own. 

Facing them together meant double the trouble…  
And the fact that they were going out, combined with their love for driving Hongjoong nuts, were starting to make him dread being around the happy couple.

Yeosang simply shook his head.  
“You know… Jokes aside, what’s taking you so long with this project? Shouldn’t you maybe take a step back and rethink the whole thing?” 

“I can’t! I need to hand in my topic tomorrow!” Hongjoong wailed.  
Yeosang got up from his couch and patted his friend’s shoulder.

“I’ll tell you what, if you promise me you’re going to take a five minute break I’m going to make you a coffee and help you find a topic, deal?”

“Deal.” Hongjoong sniffed. Then he squinted at Yeosang in suspicion.  
“Why are you being so nice to me?”

“What, can’t I just be a good friend for once?” Yeosang deadpanned. The look he got from his friend made him throw his hands up in surrender. 

“Okay, okay, I admit it, I have a bit of a favor to ask of you.”

“What kind of favor?” Hongjoong was still suspicious.

“So um… maybe, just maybe, Wooyoung is coming over tomorrow…”

Hongjoong sighed. “And you want me to leave for a couple of hours so you guys can be all nasty and cute in peace, I understand.”

Yeosang bit his lip. “Actually… I was wondering if you could maybe… Just maybe… sleep over at a friend’s?”

“Basically you don’t want your annoying roommate to cockblock you by having to march through your room to get to the rest of the apartment.”

“That’s not what I said!”

Hongjoong laughed. “Calm down, I’ll text Mingi or Yunho to see if they’re free Friday night.”

Yeosang breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, you’re the best.”

“You’re just saying that because I’m abandoning my apartment so you and your bae can go and do the dirty in peace.”

Yeosang looked like Hongjoong’s wording was causing him physical pain, but before he could say anything else, Hongjoong pulled him in the direction of the kitchen.

“From what I remember, a certain someone promised me coffee and a helping hand. So where are both of those things?”

Yeosang extracted his hand from Hongjoong’s grasp and ushered him back to the couch. “You wait here. I’ll make the coffee. Then we’ll think.” He ordered.  
Hongjoong collapsed onto the couch with a sigh. 

The next thing he knew Yeosang was gently nudging him awake.  
“Hongjoong?”

“Mmm? What- oh! I wasn’t sleeping! I was just resting my eyes!”

“Of course you were.” Yeosang nodded sympathetically.  
Hongjoong stretched and then snuck a peek at his watch. Apparently he really had fallen asleep, and for over an hour at that. 

“Yeosang, why didn’t you wake me up!” He scolded. 

“You looked tired. And don’t try to BS-excuse your way out of that one, I know you stayed up way too late last night working on your art project. Here’s your coffee, anyway. I made you a new one, the other one got cold.”

“Thanks.”  
A few moments of mutual silence passed while Hongjoong took his first sip of much-needed liquid life and Yeosang made himself comfortable on his couch. Then he looked at Hongjoong expectantly. 

“So, your project.”

Hongjoong nodded with a heavy sigh.  
“Well… I flunked that one exam last semester, and now I really need to get a higher grade in that course if I want to keep my scholarship.”

“But, don’t you like, work, too? If you have a scholarship, can’t you just skip work?”

“It’s just a partial scholarship. It takes care of half of my tuition fees, but that’s it, and I don’t make enough money to pay for that, rent, food, public transportation and everything else in addition to that. I mean my parents help me by paying some of my rent, but I can’t expect them to pay for everything, soooo…”

“I see.”

“Basically this project… Isn’t something I have to do, as far as my professor is concerned, but it’s something I need to do to get my grade back up so I don’t have to worry about paying for tuition, too.”

“So… what’s your project about?”

“That’s the problem, I don’t know! It’s for my painting class though. The general topic is something along the lines of ‘Past and Progression into the future’ and Mr. Lee has given us a lot of leeway to make things easier, but that’s just made everything so much more complicated!”

Hongjoong knew he sounded downright whiny, but he was past the point of caring. He just wanted some sort of guideline! Rather than a blessing, this art project was turning into some sort of curse in disguise!  
Yeosang cleared his throat, snapping Hongjoong back into reality.

“You’re doing the thing again.”

“What thing?” 

“The thing where you go silent and stare off into space for a while. Last time I checked, I was trying to help you. I know your creative brain likes to take detours to like, some sort of parallel universe or something, but I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t do that while I’m talking to you.”

“Sorry… where were we?”

“You just told me about the general topic of your project.” Yeosang reminded him.

“Thanks. That’s… really all there is to this project so far, to be honest with you…”  
Hongjoong grimaced. “I just can’t seem to come up with anything useful… The main problem is that this has to be something I can both write about and paint. I can’t find something I can do both of those things with without having one category end up lacking…” Hongjoong took another sip of his coffee. 

Yeosang continued to chew on his lip.  
“I’m not sure how to help you… I mean… basically you need, like, a history of something and the way it changed… and it’s not like you can paint that…”

Hongjoong paused next to him, mid-sip.  
“Wait… say that again.”

“What? The history bit or the not being able to paint it bit?”

Hongjoong almost launched himself off the couch with excitement. “But I can! I could just research the history of this city, for instance, and the way architecture and other human influences have shaped it and its surroundings, then find records of that and pictures and then paint that on a canvas in multiple layers! You’re a genius, Yeosang!”

His friend shook his head. “You are aware that you’re the one who literally came up with all of that on the spot, right? I did none of that. That was all you.”

Hongjoong made a dismissive hand gesture.  
“But you made me think of it! This is exactly what I need!” He jumped up, itching to get back to his desk. 

“Your coffee!” Yeosang called out. 

“Oh, right! Thanks. What would I ever do without you, Yeosang?” 

Before Yeosang even had a chance to answer, Hongjoong had already disappeared back into his room, ready to fully immerse himself in this new idea of his.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, please remember that kudos and comments bring me great joy and motivate me to update and work on my fics more frequently! If you enjoyed the first chapter, please let me know!


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